Emanuel School’s Double Champions in HICES Debating
Sydney’s Emanuel School recently fronted two student teams in the Grand Final of the HICES Debating competition with the only school with two teams in the Final with both winning the Championships in their divisions.
Senior Division Debating Champions Liahm Simon and Lara Joffe, both in Year 10, with their coach, Anthony Small
Emanuel was one of the over 40 independent and co-educational schools that entered each division of the State-wide competition. Elijah Grynberg, Year 8, and a member of Emanuel’s Middle Division team, confirmed that they had “spent three terms working up to that moment”.
In the Grand Final the Middle Team argued the affirmative for the topic ‘That countries with poor human rights records should not be allowed to compete in the Olympics’. The Year 8 students, Beau Glass, Rebekah Goldsworthy, Elijah Grynberg and Lara Fosberry, did an exemplary job at arguing and explaining their case, winning the debate and taking out the Middle Division Championship. Isaac Grove, India Sacks, Ruby Hurwitz and Chloe Miller, fellow Year 8 Emanuel debaters, assisted the Champions to get to the Grand Finals by being involved in the preliminary rounds.
The Senior team comprised Years 9 and 10 students Sienna Amoils, Liahm Simon, Lara Joffe and Noah Solomon. Natasha Gering, Isabella Flax and Joshua Amoils had argued and helped win previous rounds provided support for their fellow team members. The Seniors argued the negative for the topic ‘Australia does not give everyone a fair go’. They impressed the judges and won the Senior Championships with their argument that a fair go means equal opportunities rather than equal outcomes.
Both Emanuel teams were coached by alumnus, Anthony Small, class of 2011: “I feel especially privileged to have been able to work with such a committed generation of vibrant, intelligent and motivated young people whose talent and hard work were the reasons for their well-deserved successes.”
“The intellectual and oratory skills I learnt as a debater have proved invaluable to me in my legal and academic careers, and my business and political projects. I cannot wait to see where the skills and abilities that these exceptional students have cultivated will take them in the future. Emanuel is an exciting place to be right now.”
Emanuel School Principal, Anne Hastings proudly commented: “Having two teams come home as Champions is a superb result and testament to their consistent hard work and the guidance of their coach and teachers. We thank Anthony Small for his tireless assistance and expertise. It is very exciting to witness the growth of our debaters under his guidance. We also thank the teachers who have managed the debating teams over the season.”
